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Martha Ostenso
Martha Ostenso (17 September 1900 - 24 November 1963) was a Canadian poet, novelist, and screenwriter. Life Ostenso was born in Haukeland (now part of Bergen), in Hordaland County, Norway. Her parents were Olina (Tungeland) and Sigurd Ostenso. She emigrated with her family to the United States in 1902. They settled in South Dakota and Minnesota before immigrating to Canada in the province of Manitoba. Ostenso taught in a rural school and was educated at the University of Manitoba.Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. Edited by W.H. New. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p.854-55. ISBN 0-8020-0761-9 Ostenso is probably best known for the award-winning novel Wild Geese, published in 1925. Wild Geese won the 1925 Dodd, Mead & Co. Best Novel of the Year Award, and brought her much popular and critical attention. It made her a well-known and best-selling author.Buckley, Joan N. “Martha Ostenso: Norwegian-American immigrant novelist” (NAHA, Volume 28, 69.. The novel was filmed as Ruf der Wildgänse in 1961 as a West-German and Austrian co-production and as After the Harvest in 2001 for Canadian TV. Ostenso continued to publish short stories and novels, and wrote a number of screenplays. Although it is now known that Ostenso collaborated with her husband, fellow novelist Douglas Durkin, all her writing appeared under her name alone. Ostenso produced 15 more novels, the most successful of which was O River, Remember, a novel about a family in the Red River Valley of Minnesota which won a Literary Guild selection in 1943. Asked how to pronounce her name, she told The Literary Digest, "Of the three syllables in Ostenso, the first receives the major accent, the second is without accent, the third receives a minor accent. The final result is as if you spoke the name Austin and added so as an afterthought.... Since I was born in Norway, I suppose I should insist on the Norwegian values. But I don't. I am even weary of correcting people who insist that it is Os''ten''so. However, the Norwegians say Östensö.... The accent is the same, so perhaps I am not too pedantic in maintaining that accent, since I have to sacrifice the vowel character."Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936. Writing Hailed by critics as a landmark in Canadian realism, Wild Geese is a story about a young schoolteacher sent to teach in rural Manitoba. Many of Ostenso's novels were based on Minnesota farm life; most incorporate elements of romance and melodrama. Ostenso portrays the lives of rural immigrants with dignity. Although none of her later novels ever reached the acclaim Wild Geese attracted, most continued to explore a similar theme: the relationship between men and women and the land they work. A number of her other works were translated and have been reprinted several times. Recognition Ostenso won the Dodd, Mead & Co. Best Novel of the Year Award in 1925 and the 1st novel-prize offered by the Pictorial Review, both for Wild Geese. Her novel O River, Remember (1943) won a Literary Guild Choice Award. Publications Poetry *''In a Far Land''. New York: Seltzer, 1924. Novels *''Wild Geese''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1925; Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1925. *''The Dark Dawn''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1926. *''The Mad Carews''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1927. *''The Young May Moon''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1929. *''The Waters under the Earth''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1930. *''Prologue to Love''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1931. *''There's Always Another Year''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1933. *''The White Reef''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1934. *''The Stone Field''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1937. *''The Mandrake Root''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1938. *''Love Passed This Way''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1942. *''O River, Remember!'' New York: Dodd, Mead, 1943. *''Milk Route''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1948. *''The Sunset Tree''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1949. *''A Man Had Tall Sons''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1958. Non-fiction *''And They Shall Walk: The life story of Sister Elizabeth Kenney'' (with Elizabeth Kenney). New York: Dodd, Mead, 1943. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy Athabasca University.Bibliography of Works by Martha Ostenso, English-Canadian Writers, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, Athabasca University, Web, July 2, 2012.. See also *List of Canadian poets *Timeline of Canadian poetry References Notes External links ;Poems *Two poems ("Waste-Land," "Solitude") in Poetry, June 1924 ;Books *Martha Ostenso at Amazon.com ;About *Martha Ostenso at the St. Louis Park Historic Society *Martha Ostenso in The Canadian Encyclopedia *Martha Ostenso in The Literary Encyclopedia *Martha Ostenso at Minnesota Author Biographies. *[http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/scl/article/view/7899/8956 Wild Geese: The death of Caleb Gare] in Studies in Canadian Literature Category:1900 births Category:1963 deaths Category:People from Bergen Category:Canadian novelists Category:Canadian screenwriters Category:Women screenwriters Category:Canadian people of Norwegian descent Category:American people of Norwegian descent Category:Norwegian emigrants to the United States Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:Canadian poets Category:Canadian women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets